Providing both theory and praxis, this creative textbook explains how to write humour, comedy, satire, parody, nonsense, and both the literary and the joke monologue. Through its close analyses of short stories, sketches, essays and scripts, it should be useful to serious and not-so-serious writers of every genre. Guiding aspiring writers through the many techniques for creating humour, it illustrates and analyzes what works and what doesn't, suggests ways to energize passages that fall flat, and offers insights into brainstorming, team writing, and revision.